Topic: Moved drive to different machine, and now getting grub Error 15 at startup

[NomadOfNorad]

Okay, I have an old machine (late 90s) with a proprietary power supply that is failing. Since it would be a nuisance to special-order their nonstandard power supply, and I have another, different machine sitting around doing nothing, I decided to simply move the HDD into the other machine and run it from that one.  I have made NO changes to anything beyond simply moving the drive from one old machine to another, with that drive as the only HDD connected and powered.

The original machine is an old Gateway Essential, the other machine is an old Micron Millinnia.

I turned the machine on, and it got as far as:

Code: [Select]

Verifying DMI Pool Data...
GRUB loading stage 1.5

Grub loading, please wait...
Error 15
What am I doing wrong?

What do I need to do to get my email server back up and running without a lot of muss or fuss, and without losing any data?

[Stefano]

if you can, move your data using Affa

anyway, did you search for "centos grub error 15" with google?

[NomadOfNorad]

Well, one issue is I am not sure I would be able to keep the machine that WAS running SME Server up and running for more than a little while.  It kept spontaneously shutting off after a short period, sometimes a couple hours, sometimes a few minutes.  Fairly likely this is due to a failing power supply.  This is why I moved the HDD to another machine and tried to boot it on that machine.

I DID do a google for "grub error 15" or something close to that, but didn't find anything useful.  Didn't try it with "centos grub error 15" though.

[Stefano]

try to boot from SME's cd in rescue mode and reinstall Grub

[cactus]

Moving your drive might seem the easy solution, but the system is a little bit more complex. Error 15 (according to a little google-ing) indicates that files required by grub are not found.
Since you moved you hard disk to another machine I think the drive id it might be on is not the same as it was on in the old machine. This might get you started and at least might give you some idea on how things work:

http://stringofthoughts.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/grub-error-15-debianubuntu/

I have not tested this and the information is for a different flavor of linux, it might work, it might not work. I suggest you backup your drive, for instance by making an image and experiment using the image, that way you will not wreck the original disk

[CharlieBrady]

I think all that may be required is to run 'upgrade' from the SME server CDROM.

If this were my system, I'd first use 'rescue' from the SME server CDROM, check that the system looks to be OK, and do a full backup over the network. All those unplanned shutdowns and concerns over a malfunctioning power supply raise concerns over the integrity of the file system, however.

Another option, as Stefano mentioned, is to use 'rescue' and re-install grub via the command line.

[Stefano]

was the hd the only one in the old server? if it was not, try to connect the other one

[NomadOfNorad]

It was the only drive in the old system, it is the only drive in the new system.

Is Affa something I install separately onto SME Server, or is it something that comes with the regular install, or that if it didn't originally come with it, got added with one of the SME Server updates?

[cactus]

Is Affa something I install separately onto SME Server, or is it something that comes with the regular install, or that if it didn't originally come with it, got added with one of the SME Server updates?

It is a contrib (addition), see http://wiki.contribs.org/Affa

[kmccarn]

I would look at the BIOS drive settings on both systems first - see if there are translation issues with the heads and cylinders....

Just a thought....

 

[janet]

NomadOfNorad

Did you overlook Charlies advice ? You should follow it, he is very good with his advice.

[NomadOfNorad]

Okay, I did an Upgrade from the SME server CD, and it went through the whole process, prompted me to remove the CD and hit enter to reboot.... and then on reboot, it still gives Error 15.  Grrrr....

Looks like I'm going to have to reinstall Grub.  Any advice on doing this, me being a complete novice at Linux?

[janet]

NomadOfNorad

As Charlie suggested did you first do:
"If this were my system, I'd first use 'rescue' from the SME server CDROM, check that the system looks to be OK, and do a full backup over the network. All those unplanned shutdowns and concerns over a malfunctioning power supply raise concerns over the integrity of the file system, however."

See http://wiki.contribs.org/Booting

[NomadOfNorad]

Yeah, I saw that comment about "...do a full backup over the network," and I went into rescue mode looking for a way to do that, and didn't see any obvious means of telling it "I want to save the backup to that a folder on that Win7 machine over there," because right now that would be the only place I'd be able to save it to.  There wasn't any obvious menu item for that, so I'm guessing I'd have to manually type something in at the command prompt, but since I have barely any experience at all with Linux, I have no idea what that command sequence might be.

[janet]

NomadOfNorad

As long as the file system in intact, a system in rescue mode should perform similarly to a live SME system.

Boot up into rescue mode, then follow the prompts to mount the system and so on. It's reasonably obvious, but you may be unsure the first time you do it, so experiment (with care).
I'm sure there are some notes about this either on the wiki or in the forums, search on rescue mode, here is one result
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,45089.msg218391.html#msg218391

Then when you are at the command prompt type in
console
This should open the admin menu, from there you can select to do a backup to a connected USB drive.

Alternatively the system should be accessible from the network it is connected to, so you can access server manager and perform a backup to workstation or connected USB.


This post may also be of interest re the grub issue.
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,48149.msg238786.html#msg238786